Roll angle estimation device and transport apparatus

1. A roll angle estimation device for estimating a roll angle of a moving body, comprising: first and second angular velocity detectors which detect a roll angular velocity and a yaw angular velocity respectively around first and second axes and along two mutually different directions; first, second, and third acceleration detectors which respectively detect first, second, and third accelerations along three mutually different directions; a velocity detector which detects information concerning a moving velocity of the moving body in a direction of travel of the moving body; and arithmetic circuitry configured to estimate a current value of the roll angle of the moving body, a current value of a pitch angle of the moving body, a current value of a pitch angular velocity of the moving body, and a current value of at least one offset error of the first and second angular velocity detectors and the first, second, and third acceleration detectors, based on: detection values of the roll angular velocity and the yaw angular velocity by the first and second angular velocity detectors; detection values of the first, second, and third accelerations by the first, second, and third acceleration detectors; a detection value of the information by the velocity detector; estimated previous values, from a previous estimation operation of the arithmetic circuitry, of the roll angle, the pitch angle, and the pitch angular velocity; and an estimated previous value of the at least one offset error from the previous estimation operation of the arithmetic circuitry, wherein the arithmetic circuitry estimates the current value of the pitch angle and the pitch angular velocity of the moving body by integrating d dt ⁡ [ θ ω p ] = [ ω p ( - 1 / τ ) * ω p ] wherein θ is the pitch angle, ω p is the pitch angular velocity, (l/τ) represents an exponential decay factor of the pitch angular velocity; wherein the arithmetic circuitry comprises a Kalman filter which estimates the estimated current values for the roll angle, the pitch angle, the pitch angular velocity and the at least one offset error, and the Kalman filter is extended by application of an observation equation that calculates a value of vertical acceleration G z , a value of lateral acceleration G y and a value of rear-wheel speed v r based on at least the estimated value of the pitch angle θ and the estimated value of the pitch angular velocity ω p .

2. The roll angle estimation device of claim 1 , wherein the Kalman filter estimates the estimated current values for the roll angle, the pitch angle, the pitch angular velocity and the at least one offset error based on a relationship among: the detection values by the first and second angular velocity detectors; the detection values by the first, second, and third acceleration detectors; the detection value of the information by the velocity detector; the estimated previous values from the previous estimation operation of the roll angle, the pitch angle, and the pitch angular velocity; and the estimated previous value of the at least one offset error from the previous estimation operation.

3. The roll angle estimation device of claim 1 , wherein the arithmetic circuitry estimates the estimated current value of the pitch angle based on an estimated previous value of the pitch angular velocity from the previous estimation operation, and estimates the estimated current value for the pitch angular velocity based on the estimated previous value of the pitch angular velocity from the previous estimation operation.

4. The roll angle estimation device of claim 3 , wherein the Kalman filter estimates the estimated current values for the roll angle, the pitch angle, the pitch angular velocity and the at least one offset error based on a relationship among: the detection values by the first and second angular velocity detectors; the detection values by the first, second, and third acceleration detectors; the detection value of the information by the velocity detector; the estimated previous values from the previous estimation operation of the roll angle, the pitch angle, and the pitch angular velocity; and the estimated previous value of the at least one offset error from the previous estimation operation.

5. The roll angle estimation device of claim 1 , wherein the arithmetic circuitry estimates the current value for the pitch angle by integrating an estimated previous value of the pitch angular velocity over a period of time since the previous estimation operation.

6. The roll angle estimation device of claim 5 , wherein the Kalman filter estimates the estimated current values of the roll angle, the pitch angle, the pitch angular velocity and the at least one offset error based on a relationship among: the detection values by the first and second angular velocity detectors; the detection values by the first, second, and third acceleration detectors; the detection value of the information by the velocity detector; the estimated previous values from the previous estimation operation of the roll angle, the pitch angle, and the pitch angular velocity; and the estimated previous value of the at least one offset error from the previous estimation operation.

7. The roll angle estimation device of claim 2 , wherein the Kalman filter comprises a saturation limiting circuit which, when any of the estimated current values exceed an upper limit value of a predetermined range, sets the estimated current value, that exceeds the upper limit value, with the upper limit value, and when any of the estimated current values is lower than a lower limit value of the predetermined range, sets the estimated current value, that is lower than the lower limit value, with the lower limit value.

8. The roll angle estimation device of claim 7 , wherein one of the estimated current values exceeds the upper limit value of the predetermined range, so that the saturation limiting circuit sets the one estimated value with the upper limit value, and the one estimated current value is one selected from the group consisting of the estimated current value of the roll angle, the estimated current value of the pitch angle, and an offset error of the pitch angular velocity.

9. The roll angle estimation device of claim 7 , wherein one of the estimated current values is lower than the lower limit value of the predetermined range, so that the saturation limiting circuit sets the one estimated value with the lower limit value, the one estimated current value is one selected from the group consisting of the estimated current value of the roll angle, the estimated current value of the pitch angle, and an offset error of the pitch angular velocity.

10. The roll angle estimation device of claim 2 , wherein the arithmetic circuitry includes low-pass filters that receive outputs from the first and second angular velocity detectors, the first, second, and third acceleration detectors, and the velocity detector, and the arithmetic circuitry treats filtered outputs, that have been transmitted through the low-pass filters, as, respectively, the detection values of the first and second angular velocity detectors, the first, second, and third accelerations detector, and said velocity detector.

11. The roll angle estimation device of claim 1 , wherein, the moving body includes a front wheel and a rear wheel; said velocity detector includes a rear-wheel rotation speed detector which detects a rotation speed of the rear wheel as the information concerning the moving velocity of the moving body in the direction of travel of the moving body; and the arithmetic circuitry further estimates the moving velocity of the moving body, and estimates the current value of the roll angle of the moving body, the current value of the at least one offset error, and a current value of the moving velocity of the moving body, based on: the detection values of the roll angular velocity and the yaw angular velocity by the first and second angular velocity detectors; the detection values of the first, second, and third accelerations by the first, second, and third acceleration detectors; a detection value of the rotation speed by the rear-wheel rotation speed detector; an estimated previous value of the roll angle from the previous estimation operation; the estimated previous value of the at least one offset error from the previous estimation operation; and an estimated previous value of the moving velocity from the previous estimation operation.

12. The roll angle estimation device of claim 1 , wherein, the moving body includes a front wheel and a rear wheel; said velocity detector includes a front-wheel rotation speed detector which detects a rotation speed of the front wheel, and a rear-wheel rotation speed arithmetic circuitry which estimates a rotation speed of the rear wheel from a detection value of the rotation speed of the front wheel by the front-wheel rotation speed detector as the information concerning the moving velocity of the moving body in the direction of travel of the moving body; and the arithmetic circuitry further estimates the moving velocity of the moving body, and estimates the current value of the roll angle of the moving body, the current value of the at least one offset error, and a current value of the moving velocity of the moving body, based on: the detection values of the first, second, and third accelerations by the first and second angular velocity detectors; the detection values of the first, second, and third accelerations by the first, second, and third acceleration detectors; an estimated value of the rotation speed of the rear wheel by the rear-wheel rotation speed arithmetic circuitry; an estimated previous value of the roll angle from the previous estimation operation; the estimated previous value of the at least one offset error from the previous estimation operation; and an estimated previous value of the moving velocity from the previous estimation operation.

13. A transport apparatus comprising: the moving body of claim 1 ; the roll angle estimation device of claim 1 which estimates the roll angle of the moving body; and a processing device which controls the transport apparatus using the roll angle estimated by the roll angle estimation device.

14. The roll angle estimation device of claim 1 , wherein the arithmetic circuitry comprises a saturation limiting circuit which, for each respective estimated current value of the estimated current values, determines whether the respective estimated current value exceeds an upper limit value of a predetermined range, and sets the respective estimated current value with the upper limit value when the respective estimated current value exceeds the upper limit value.

15. The roll angle estimation device of claim 1 , wherein the arithmetic circuitry comprises a saturation limiting circuit which, for each respective estimated current value of the estimated current values, determines whether the respective estimated current value is lower than a lower limit value of a predetermined range, and sets the respective estimated current value with the lower limit value when the respective estimated current value is less than the lower limit value.